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Parents need to know that “Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank “is an animated comic adventure loosely based on Mel Brooks’ 1974 comedy Blazing Saddles.
Hank (voiced by Michael Cera) is a dog who wants nothing more than to become a samurai, even though that honour is always bestowed upon cats.
He ends up assigned to defend an all-cat village and convinces a retired samurai named Jimbo (Samuel L. Jackson) to become his mentor.
The adventure is mostly appropriate for families with younger kids but does include lots of martial arts-based cartoon violence — some of it with weapons.
There’s also rude humour.
Catnip is depicted as an addictive substance that can be abused, and a major character is portrayed as being dependent on it. Although the movie isn’t educational in nature, its themes encourage courage, empathy, and teamwork, as well as tolerance and acceptance.
The movie was fine, but not anything worth seeking out.
The characters were shallow and their interactions are heavy handed.
The writing heavily leans on cultural memes and 4th wall winks — “Is this the part of the movie where we have a training montage?”
The humour for adults is weak and the humour for kids is generic.
It takes place in an animated universe reminiscent of Japan during the age of the samurai.
Hank (voiced by Michael Cera) is a dog who naively travels to an all-cat village, where nefarious ruling cat Ika Chu (Ricky Gervais) assigns Hank to be the new samurai of Kakamucho.
Ika Chu’s hope is that Hank’s ineptitude will cause the destruction of the town.
Unbeknownst to Ika Chu, the town is home to the retired, once-great samurai Jimbo (Samuel L. Jackson), who agrees to train Hank to pass a series of tests of cat-like agility to prove that he’s got what it takes to be a samurai (an honour typically bestowed on cats, not dogs).
The towns folk are initially unwelcoming, but eventually they warm to Hank.
Young Emiko (Kylie Kuioka) even hopes that she, too, can become a samurai.
But will Hank’s new found skills be enough to defeat Ika Chu?
An announced visit from the shogun (Mel Brooks) gives Hank a small window to be good enough to successfully defend Kakamucho.
Recognizable story themes and plot points make this a decent comedic adventure. But it’s not as memorable as similar movies like Kung Fu Panda or Rango.
Cera’s familiar voice is ideally cast to play the well-meaning but slightly bumbling Hank, who has to work hard to transform into a samurai.
Jackson is also a selling point as the curmudgeonly — and clearly troubled — former samurai who’s willing to train newbie Hank.
Gervais sounds villainous most of the time, so he’s more than believable as a narcissistic cat ruler with evil plans and an obsession with a giant toilet bowl.
The screenplay by Ed Stone and Nate Hopper is based on Blazing Saddles, but that’s likely to be lost in translation for the movie’s young target audience.
Most of the jokes rely on bathroom humour, which seems over the top here even for a kid-oriented film.
A few of the gags land, but there’s only so much laughter to be had from a bad joke.
What is funny is that the filmmakers were able to include a small role for nonagenarian Brooks, whom it’s legitimately delightful to hear as the shogun.
And kids will particularly enjoy the younger cats, who, like Hank, aspire to be samurai protectors of their village.
Directors Rob Minkoff, Mark Koetsier, and Chris Bailey haven’t created anything truly original here (not only is the movie Saddles-inspired, but it’s also incredibly reminiscent of Kung Fu Panda), but that doesn’t mean it won’t entertain kids for an hour and a half.
Paws of Fury is fine, but it’s just not as singular and special as Hank. — commonsense.com
Online Reporter